Disappointed!

[nearlyfallinstar]

So, can I ask a question about this that has been worrying me about our upcoming cruise? I have a daughter who is 23 and disabled. Because of a full spinal fusion at 12, she stopped growing and on a good day she can pass for about 13; she looks very, very young. She is also fully dependent on a caregiver. I had every intention of bringing her into the adults only areas, including a Palo brunch. Do you think this would be a problem? Will people be upset but too polite to say something? It really has been a concern of mine, so I would welcome the input.

You will be fine! More than likely, CMs will be aware of your daughter and handle anyone that doesn't realize she is an adult.

 

[hanscarlet]

Then there is me. I'm not looking for a child free vacation, but I would love some adult time while on a family vacation. DCL is supposed to give me that because that is part of what I paid for. I am a SAHM, so that adult time is rare and precious to me. I don't want to have to discipline other people and their children to get the adult only time I actually kind of need. If CMs were more consistent with keeping to the rules, there would be less instances of rule breakers.

This is me too. We do DCL because we have relatively younger children and we love kids and DCL but we also love it because we can get away from our children. I would be annoyed with kids hanging in an adults only location because it's precisely why I do DCL, so I don't have to be around kids.... I need time away from my kids... and I certainly don't want to hang out with others' kids lol

 

[CVICU Nurse]

Then there is me. I'm not looking for a child free vacation, but I would love some adult time while on a family vacation. DCL is supposed to give me that because that is part of what I paid for. I am a SAHM, so that adult time is rare and precious to me. I don't want to have to discipline other people and their children to get the adult only time I actually kind of need. If CMs were more consistent with keeping to the rules, there would be less instances of rule breakers.

Yes! I am a SAHM M-F, where I homeschool, and work 12+ hr shifts on the weekends. And like you stated, it is not my place to have to be the bad guy and say something to rambunctious kids who are in an adult only area!

 

[cruiser21]

The ships are poorly designed. Other ships I've been on this has never been an issue because the adult areas weren't thoroughfares. That being said, having kids walk through doesn't bother me. I'm just happy I don't have to hang out at the other pool with the 500 toddlers.

 

[CVICU Nurse]

This is me too. We do DCL because we have relatively younger children and we love kids and DCL but we also love it because we can get away from our children. I would be annoyed with kids hanging in an adults only location because it's precisely why I do DCL, so I don't have to be around kids.... I need time away from my kids... and I certainly don't want to hang out with others' kids lol

I agree. We did DCL again because my kids actually enjoyed the clubs and activities last time. On our last cruise we went with Norwegian and our daughters had no interest in the clubs and said they were boring. And I completely agree with the last sentence of your post, lol!

 

[soniam]

Yes, yes, and yes. We have been looking into Royal Caribbean and Princess Cruises as well for the same reason- we could get concierge for the same price we paid for our Deluxe Family stateroom. We did thoroughly enjoy Remy- not the $450 we spent- but it was a nice reprieve, food was amazing, and we enjoyed the wine pairings with each course. Do you have any info you can share about the kids activities on the Royal Caribbean and Princess ships?

Unfortunately, I don't have any info about the kids stuff on RCCL or Princess. We have never done Princess. The last we did RCCL, DS was 4, and it was on an smaller, older ship, about 7 years ago. I wouldn't trust a comparison now. However, just looking at the website and ads, RCCL really seems to have a lot of cool physical activities for older kids.

 

[anna08]

We've done two lovely cruises without the kids on DCL, and have a third pending. On both of those cruises we have seen children with their parents told politely by CMs to leave the adult pool area, and on one with our kids we were stopped at the door by a CM when we went to a trivia contest not realizing it was adults only. Maybe because we don't get a ton of family vacation time in general, we've never been bothered by other families' children (outside of a bully in the Mickey pool) and it's probably why we choose DCL over a ship with a smoke filled casino that you are forced to walk through. Personal choice, but that's much more offensive to me.

 

[Carrie in AZ]

No need to restate the obvious here but I'll bite, this is a DISNEY cruise with LOTS of kids. If you want something where there is much less opportunity for kids to spoil your adult fun then pick an adult oriented cruise line. I'm wondering why did you pick DCL in the first place? Likely because you knew it would be awesome for your kids? The crew does the best they can to keep adult areas "off limits" but it would be almost impossible to fully enforce a STRICT "get out of here kid" policy. IMO this is like buying a home in near an airport then complaining about the noise after you move in.

Ummm, no. Not the same at all. We sail as a family. We enjoy activities as a family, our teen girls enjoy their clubs and activities, and DH and I want to spend adult time together or solo. ADULTS ONLY means just that. We are rule followers each and every day and certainly expect the rules to be followed. If they are not, we expect enforcement.

Not the same at all as buying in the flight path of an airport.

 

[Evoga]

I will have to have a look when I go on my first cruise this year but the only odd adults only area to me is the coffee shop. Why is that adults only? It sounds like a small starbucks and I couldn't imagine a Starbucks barring children.

Mmmmm. Now if only they did have a real Starbucks on the ship like in parks my family would be happy.

And sorry OP you had a bad cruise.

 

[Henlady]

There IS a Coffee spot for ALL ages that you are welcome to take your children to....it is Vista Café on the 4th deck overlooking the central atrium.
They have the same menu and snack case as Cove Café. So people with children don't have to go to Cove Café, families with children in tow have their own coffee spot.

 

[crafty91]

The OP made the statement that she was considering cancelling the future cruise hubby had planned. My point is that while there are adult areas and most are monitored very well btw, if you are looking for 'kid free' so you can relax without kids bothering you in all adult areas at any point then Disney would not seem to be the obvious choice. Honestly the OP didn't ask a question so I'm not entirely sure what we are debating here.

 

[wilkeliza]

I will have to have a look when I go on my first cruise this year but the only odd adults only area to me is the coffee shop. Why is that adults only? It sounds like a small starbucks and I couldn't imagine a Starbucks barring children.

Mmmmm. Now if only they did have a real Starbucks on the ship like in parks my family would be happy.

And sorry OP you had a bad cruise.

The space aren't adults only because there is something bad for children in them. They are adults only to provide adults a space of their own on the ship. Every other age group has a space of their own as well. The Vibe even bas a smoothie bar if I'm not mistaken (unsure if it is available all the time or select days). I believe all ships now have a cafe near the atrium that everyone can enjoy.

Also the cafes in my experience at least are far superior to Starbucks (coming from someone who worked at and lives on Sbux). of course since everything isn't as automatic as Sbux it will depend on your barista.

 

[PurplePencil]

The space aren't adults only because there is something bad for children in them. They are adults only to provide adults a space of their own on the ship. Every other age group has a space of their own as well. The Vibe even bas a smoothie bar if I'm not mistaken (unsure if it is available all the time or select days). I believe all ships now have a cafe near the atrium that everyone can enjoy.

Also the cafes in my experience at least are far superior to Starbucks (coming from someone who worked at and lives on Sbux). of course since everything isn't as automatic as Sbux it will depend on your barista.

Vibe has a smoothie/drink bar available (or at least on the dream class) on request. "Smoothie" is taken loosely, as it is just fruit, not a fancy as Smoothies from Frozone. There is also milkshakes and soda

 

[halfmonkey]

I was on this cruise too. I've actually been on two other Disney cruises. One was a cruise to nowhere out of San Diego and another from Vancouver to San Diego. Both were on the Wonder. I will say that on both of those cruises, the adult areas seemed to be adults only. I may have seen kids walk through on occasion but they weren't lingering or hanging around. This cruise on the Fantasy was different as I will agree that I did see more kids in the adult areas than I assumed would be allowed. Not sure if the design of the ship and the layout of the various areas played a role in this or not but it was also something I noticed. Maybe it was the group of people thinking they paid all of this money so they figured the rules didn't apply to them. I don't know but there were definitely more kids then there should have been. I did notice that the ship mostly had people from Ohio and Colorado as it appears to be their spring break. Wondering if people from either of these areas may have been the reason for more kids in the adult areas. Maybe they just didn't care and didn't instruct their kids to follow the rules.

Either way, it's not something that I would let get to me. I'm on vacation and what other people do generally don't factor into my world because people do what they're gonna do and if they're doing it, generally speaking they think they're right so no point in addressing it with them. If you want some fun reading, visit the Disneyland forum regarding saving places for parades using blankets. I've never done this and will never do this but I have definitely seen many people save huge spaces for parades. Again, I don't bother with them because the people doing this usually think they have every right to do it even if it's not being considerate of others.

 

[RedSox68]

If you want some fun reading, visit the Disneyland forum regarding saving places for parades using blankets. I've never done this and will never do this but I have definitely seen many people save huge spaces for parades. Again, I don't bother with them because the people doing this usually think they have every right to do it even if it's not being considerate of others.

Have you ever seen CMs come along and tell them it's not allowed? I would never been that nervy to take all that space, but then again they do it in the theaters too.

 

[halfmonkey]

Have you ever seen CMs come along and tell them it's not allowed? I would never been that nervy to take all that space, but then again they do it in the theaters too.

I have not seen CM tell people not to do it but apparently there are some reports of people seeing CM tell people they can't hold spaces with blankets. It's the worst when people save a huge space with like 5 blankets and only 1 person is there. That's just terrible and inconsiderate but to each their own and again, the person doing it thinks they have all the right to do it. Usually something like that starts with, "I paid all of this money to go to _______, I'm going to do what I want to get what I want." Self entitlement at its best.

 

[lilkitty819]

I will tell you what the problem is on the DCL as far as adult area's go. The problems come from the kids who's parent allow, I believe the age is 8-10 that parents have to sign a waiver for them to check themselves out of the clubs. Well they check themselves out and the parents are not aware of it. The kids that do that can be found playing in the restrooms, trying to sneak in the adult lounges and playing on the elevators. I have seen that first hand in 2004. I enjoyed the cruise for most part.

 

[phinz]

The space aren't adults only because there is something bad for children in them. They are adults only to provide adults a space of their own on the ship.

This. Your children do not belong in adult areas no matter how entitled you think you are to flout the rules.

 

[jrabbit]

There IS a Coffee spot for ALL ages that you are welcome to take your children to....it is Vista Café on the 4th deck overlooking the central atrium.
They have the same menu and snack case as Cove Café. So people with children don't have to go to Cove Café, families with children in tow have their own coffee spot.

That works on the Dream / Fantasy. Is there someplace similar on the Magic / Wonder. On the Wonder I thing the Outlook / Overlook Cafe (above the Cove Cafe) was open to all - but now it Concierge. I don't recall a family coffee shop on the Magic.

Please correct me if I am wrong (I blame "Old Age")

 

[jrabbit]

... Also the cafes in my experience at least are far superior to Starbucks (coming from someone who worked at and lives on Sbux). of course since everything isn't as automatic as Sbux it will depend on your barista.

The Chai Tea Lattes are NOT as good as Starbucks!! I've tried them a couple of times ... and ugh!!